A top Apple executive has paid a visit to China’s southern tech hub Shenzhen to speak with the city’s party secretary about supply chains, underscoring China’s importance for the US consumer giant as other tech firms seek to “de-risk” from the country.
According to official statements from Shenzhen, Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams met on Wednesday with Meng Fanli, the city’s Communist Party secretary. Williams reportedly told Meng that Shenzhen is an important market for Apple, which intends to deepen its cooperation with the city.
Meng welcomed Apple to increase its local business and investment, adding that Shenzhen would strengthen its supply chain for the company to produce more mutually beneficial results, according to the Chinese readouts.
Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams in Shenzhen. Photo: Sina
Apple is currently ramping up production for its iPhone 16 series devices, which are expected to launch in the fall, as its contractors in China, including Foxconn Technology Group’s plant in Shenzhen, are recruiting workers. While Apple has joined rival firms like Samsung Electronics in building up production capacity in countries such as Vietnam and India, China has remained a key assembly location for the iPhone maker, as no other country yet has the same level of manufacturing sophistication and scale.
The meeting between Meng and Williams came four months after the Cupertino, California-based company unveiled a plan to open a new applied research lab in Shenzhen this year. The Shenzhen lab is expected to boost Apple’s testing and research capabilities in developing important products such as the iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro, with deeper collaboration with local suppliers, according to the company.
Apple has also invested in other research and development facilities in the country. It has established R&D centres in Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing and Shenzhen. Apple said in March that it has so far invested 1 billion yuan (US$137.5 million) in its Shanghai applied research lab, which it is expanding.
While in Beijing, Williams visited an Apple Store in the Wangfujing shopping district to greet staff and customers, Isabel Ge Mahe, Apple’s vice-president and managing director of Greater China, said in a Weibo post.
He also met with team members of Migu, China’s digital entertainment service provider, who were at the store to showcase their app developed for the Apple Vision Pro, which just hit the shelves in China last month.
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